Snap Pets: Hands-on with the cutest selfie camera of them all

Tech toy brand WowWee is best known for its more boy-oriented robots, with the MiP and forthcoming MiPosaur and REV cars perhaps appealing more to males than females - although not exclusively so, we'd imagine.

The company is looking to redress the balance a little with its next product, however. Snap Pets, it feels, will appeal more to girls in their teens, yet still retains the technological nous the company is becoming known for.

Each Snap Pet, which looks like a miniature Furby, has a VGA camera built in (0.3-megapixels). It's not designed to be a high res snapper, but is meant to be used as a bit of fun and more for sharing than family albums. And the resolution was mainly chosen to keep wireless picture transfer speedy.

It links with a smartphone (iPhone or Android) via Bluetooth and pairs with a dedicated application. The app searches for the specific Snap Pet and can actually receive pics from several. However, you can only pair one at a time and once connected you can push the button on the phone and it will take a picture through the Snap Pet's "eye" and transfer it to the app where you can then edit it - adding effects and silly overlays.

That picture can then be shared via Facebook, Twitter or the like.

Alternatively, you can push on the top of the Snap Pet's head to take a selfie shot (the face is even mirrored so you can see what you're doing). That shot will send to your phone too.

The third function the Snap Pet offers is that it can be set up to be a simple Bluetooth shutter button. In that case, a press of the head takes a picture using the phone's camera.

The Snap Pets from WowWee will cost around £20 when they hit the market in Q2 - around spring time. Multiple colours will be available, including orange, pink, green and blue.

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